As picture/audio reproducers that reproduce pictures and audio, various devices such as television receivers, monitor devices, player devices, video cameras, personal computers, portable terminals and digital photoframes have been put to practical use and have already come into wide use.
Further, with the fulfillment of networks and the increase in speed and capacity thereof, content items (programs) as reproduction targets are unilaterally supplied from a transmission side (delivery station) through, e.g., electromagnetic waves or an optical fiber, and they can be also acquired at an arbitrary time according to a request from a viewer based on the spread of an on-demand scheme.
Furthermore, with the spread of a widget (information screen) that can independently display a news telop provided on a network or information in a preset specific field in a screen of a television receiver, a digital photoframe, or a personal computer, a picture or audio provided at a viewpoint different from a request from a viewer based on the on-demand scheme can be acquired and reproduced.
Meanwhile, for example, when a viewer and his/her family set an arbitrary number of widgets (information screens) in a digital photoframe installed in a living room for selfish reasons, the widgets are hard to see for the respective persons. Moreover, when they have a visitor, they must take actions, e.g., turning off the digital photoframe or hiding the same so that the visitor cannot see it.
Japanese Patent Application Publication (KOKAI) No. 2006-236218 discloses an electronic album display system that detects a viewer and selects and displays images concerning the detected viewer.
Although the electronic album display system disclosed in this literature detects a viewer and displays images (photographs) concerning the viewer, but it also displays unwilling images that the viewer does not want other persons to see since this system displays images even though the viewer and other persons share the system at the same time.